Severus pours the water into his teapot. The aroma of Lapsang Souchong rises on its steam.

At Lezard's reasoning, he smiles, pleased. His teeth show. "That is exactly what one should do. If one follows those tactics, one's task is to convince one's opponent that these would-be hidden things are valuable or interesting. One must divert them from their original expectations. If they are inclined to reason that what is closely guarded is most useful, they may be lured as you wish. Focussing on lesser things, perhaps emotional things, also places your more critical secrets to the back of your mind from whence it is more difficult to retrieve them. Often they may go undetected.

"But one does not leave one's memories permanently, or even temporarily in a penseive. I offer it and would use it for pride and because not all secrets - neither those that are personal, nor those that were once tactical, are wholly one's own. The pensieve is more a tool to aid study, and a guard of privacy, as one may show one's face but closes one's door while bathing." Severus is a private person. He respects Lezard, so he has offered it to him as well.